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2 Requirements EngineeringThese are the five activities involved in sw req engineering.

3 Requirements Analysis & Specification DefinitionsThe process of studying and analyzing the customer and the user needs to arrive at a definition of software requirements.1Requirements SpecificationA document that clearly and precisely describes, each of the essential requirements (functions, performance, design constraint, and quality attributes) of the software and the external interfaces. Each requirement being defined in such a way that its achievement is capable of being objectively verified by a prescribed method; for example inspection, demonstration, analysis, or test.2

4 – Software Requirements – Descriptions and specifications of a systemObjectives:To introduce the concepts of user and system requirementsTo describe functional / non-functional requirementsTo explain two techniques for describing system requirementsTo explain how software requirements may be organised in a requirements document

6 Requirements engineeringRequirements engineering is the process of establishingthe services that the customer requires from a systemthe constraints under which it operates and is developedRequirementsThe descriptions of the system services and constraintsthat are generated during the requirements engineering process

7 What is a requirement?It may range from a high-level abstract statement of a service or of a system constraint to a detailed mathematical functional specificationThis is inevitable as requirements may serve a dual functionMay be the basis for a bid for a contract - therefore must be open to interpretationMay be the basis for the contract itself - therefore must be defined in detailBoth these statements may be called requirements

8 Types of requirement User requirements System requirementsStatements in natural language plus diagrams of the services the system provides and its operational constraints. Written for customersSystem requirementsA structured document setting out detailed descriptions of the system services. Written as a contract between client and contractorSoftware specificationA detailed software description which can serve as a basis for a design or implementation. Written for developers

10 Functional and non-functional requirementsStatements of services the system should provide, how the system should react to particular inputs and how the system should behave in particular situations.Non-functional requirementsconstraints on the services or functions offered by the system such as timing constraints, constraints on the development process, standards, etc.Domain requirementsRequirements that come from the application domain of the system and that reflect characteristics of that domain

11 Functional RequirementsDescribe functionality or system servicesDepend on the type of software, expected users and the type of system where the software is usedFunctional user requirements may be high-level statements of what the system should do BUT functional system requirements should describe the system services in detail

12 Examples of functional requirementsThe user shall be able to search either all of the initial set of databases or select a subset from it.The system shall provide appropriate viewers for the user to read documents in the document store.Every order shall be allocated a unique identifier (ORDER_ID) which the user shall be able to copy to the account’s permanent storage area.

13 Requirements imprecisionProblems arise when requirements are not precisely statedAmbiguous requirements may be interpreted in different ways by developers and usersConsider the term ‘appropriate viewers’User intention - special purpose viewer for each different document typeDeveloper interpretation - Provide a text viewer that shows the contents of the document

14 Requirements completeness and consistencyIn principle requirements should be both complete and consistentCompleteThey should include descriptions of all facilities requiredConsistentThere should be no conflicts or contradictions in the descriptions of the system facilitiesIn practice, it is very difficult or impossible to produce a complete and consistent requirements document

15 Non-functional requirementsDefine system properties and constraints e.g. reliability, response time and storage requirements. Constraints are I/O device capability, system representations, etc.Process requirements may also be specified mandating a particular CASE system, programming language or development methodNon-functional requirements may be more critical than functional requirements. If these are not met, the system is useless

16 Non-functional classificationsProduct requirementsRequirements which specify that the delivered product must behave in a particular way e.g. execution speed, reliability, etc.Organisational requirementsRequirements which are a consequence of organisational policies and procedures e.g. process standards used, implementation requirements, etc.External requirementsRequirements which arise from factors which are external to the system and its development process e.g. interoperability requirements, legislative requirements, etc.

18 Non-functional requirements examplesProduct requirement4.C.8 It shall be possible for all necessary communication between the APSE and the user to be expressed in the standard Ada character setOrganisational requirementThe system development process and deliverable documents shall conform to the process and deliverables defined in XYZCo-SP-STAN-95External requirementThe system shall not disclose any personal information about customers apart from their name and reference number to the operators of the system

19 Goals and requirementsNon-functional requirements may be very difficult to state precisely and imprecise requirements may be difficult to verify.GoalA general intention of the user such as ease of useVerifiable non-functional requirementA statement using some measure that can be objectively testedGoals are helpful to developers as they convey the intentions of the system users

20 ExamplesA system goalThe system should be easy to use by experienced controllers and should be organised in such a way that user errors are minimised.A verifiable non-functional requirementExperienced controllers shall be able to use all the system functions after a total of two hours training. After this training, the average number of errors made by experienced users shall not exceed two per day.

22 Requirements interactionConflicts between different non-functional requirements are common in complex systemsSpacecraft systemTo minimise weight, the number of separate chips in the system should be minimisedTo minimise power consumption,lower power chips should be usedHowever, using low power chipsmay mean that more chips haveto be used.Which is the most critical requirement?

23 Domain requirementsDerived from the application domain and describe system characteristics and features that reflect the domainMay be new functional requirements, constraints on existing requirements or define specific computationsIf domain requirements are not satisfied, the system may be unworkable

24 Domain requirements problemsUnderstandabilityRequirements are expressed in the language of the application domainThis is often not understood by software engineers developing the systemImplicitnessDomain specialists understand the area so well that they do not think of making the domain requirements explicit

25 User requirementsShould describe functional and non-functional requirements so that they are understandable by system users who don’t have detailed technical knowledgeUser requirements are defined using natural language, tables and diagrams

26 Problems with natural languageLack of clarityPrecision is difficult without making the document difficult to readRequirements confusionFunctional and non-functional requirements tend to be mixed-upRequirements amalgamationSeveral different requirements may be expressed together

27 Guidelines for writing requirementsInvent a standard format and use it for all requirementsUse language in a consistent way. Useshall for mandatory requirements,should for desirable requirementsUse text highlighting to identify key parts of the requirementAvoid the use of computer jargon !!!

28 System requirements– More detailed specifications of user requirementsServe as a basis for designing the systemMay be used as part of the system contractSystem requirements may be expressed using system models (will be discussed in Lecture 6)

29 Requirements and designIn principle, requirements should state what the system should do and the design should describe how it does thisIn practice, requirements and design are inseparableA system architecture may be designed to structure the requirementsThe system may inter-operate with other systems that generate design requirementsThe use of a specific design may be a domain requirement

30 Problems with NL specificationAmbiguityThe readers and writers of the requirement must interpret the same words in the same way. NL is naturally ambiguous so this is very difficultOver-flexibilityThe same thing may be said in a number of different ways in the specificationLack of modularisationNL structures are inadequate to structure system requirements

32 Structured language specificationsA limited form of natural language may be used to express requirementsThis removes some of the problems resulting from ambiguity and flexibility and imposes a degree of uniformity on a specificationOften best supported using a forms-based approachSpecial-purpose forms where designed to describe the input, output and functions of a software system

33 Form-based specificationsDefinition of the function or entityDescription of inputs and where they come fromDescription of outputs and where they go toIndication of other entities requiredPre and post conditions (if appropriate)The side effects (if any)

34 PDL-based requirements definitionRequirements may be defined operationally using a language like a programming language but with more flexibility of expressionMost appropriate in two situationsWhere an operation is specified as a sequence of actions and the order is importantWhen hardware and software interfaces have to be specifiedDisadvantages areThe PDL may not be sufficiently expressive to define domain conceptsThe specification will be taken as a design rather than a specification

35 PDL disadvantagesPDL may not be sufficiently expressive to express the system functionality in an understandable wayNotation is only understandable to people with programming language knowledgeThe requirement may be taken as a design specification rather than a model to help understand the system

36 Interface specificationMost systems must operate with other systems and the operating interfaces must be specified as part of the requirementsThree types of interface may have to be definedProcedural interfacesData structures that are exchangedData representationsFormal notations are an effective technique for interface specification

38 The requirements documentThe requirements document is the official statement of what is required of the system developersShould include both a definition and a specification of requirementsIt is NOT a design document. As far as possible, it should set of WHAT the system should do rather than HOW it should do it

40 Requirements document requirementsSpecify external system behaviourSpecify implementation constraintsEasy to changeServe as reference tool for maintenanceRecord forethought about the life cycle of the system i.e. predict changesCharacterise responses to unexpected events

41 IEEE requirements standardIntroductionGeneral descriptionSpecific requirementsAppendicesIndexThis is a generic structure that must be instantiated for specific systems

43 Key pointsRequirements set out what the system should do and define constraints on its operation and implementationFunctional requirements set out services the system should provideNon-functional requirements constrain the system being developed or the development processUser requirements are high-level statements of what the system should do

44 Key pointsUser requirements should be written in natural language, tables and diagramsSystem requirements are intended to communicate the functions that the system should provideSystem requirements may be written in structured natural language, a PDL or in a formal languageA software requirements document is an agreed statement of the system requirements